Subject:Corn
Entries
Entry 4829
Take a woman undahweah, if her an' her ole man been fussin' an' been havin' confusion an' she don't want 'i. She kin take some of 'is undahweah whut he weahs nex'tuh 'is HYATT skin, SHE BRING ' EM TUH YUH. [Informant thinks author a doctor trying to learn new tricks.] Yuh kin take 'em. Well, yuh take dat undahweah an' yuh burn it intuh ashes. When yuh burn it intuh ashes yuh git some Solly's Corn Whiskey.
(Sally's - Solly's [Solomon's!] Corn Whiskey?)
Yes. An' yuh take - if yuh kin git any of de herb roots, John de Conkah or any dem kinda roots, an' jis' cut it up fine an' mix it in dere. Carry it right back an' put it down anywhere. Jis' sprinkle it right on de front porch or any part of de house yuh got'a walk ovah.
(What will that do then?)
When yuh git 'is undahweah yuh take it an' burn it [I interrupt].
(What will that do after you sprinkle the stuff?)
He cain't stay dere.
(She's driving him away?)
Drivin' 'im away.
Entry 5803
Dey kin git a thin' dey call devil's-shoestring. Dey kin git a thin' dey call Nine Witches [a hoodoo-store product?] an' put along wit dat [hair], an' den some corn whiskey, camphor an' bury dat.
(This hair?)
Yas, an' de longah dat grows - de more dat hair grow, de worsah yo'll git.
(What will that do to you?)
Well, it will send yo' crazy, if yo' don't git somebody to take it off yo'. [For the preceding Nine Witches, I did not suggest a piece of witches'-broom, that brushlike deformity of small branches of trees and shrubs caused by fungi, rusts, etc. The sug- gestion was not made because few persons in my experience know the witches'-broom and I personally never encountered any folklore saying or belief about it. Yet the oldtime Germans of Adams County, Illinois, surely knew the word hexenbesen.
Entry 6445
Ah have heard dat yo' go tuh de fo'ks of de road, an' take yore fingah- nail or a corn off yore toes, an' make yore three wishes. Yo' know, say, "Ah wish dis one would nevah in- tahfere wit me no mo'; ah wish dey would go 'way from me an' nevah come no mo'." An' drop it an' dey'll go. Firs' thing yo' know, if dey's roun' about chew, why dey'll leave. [During brief stoppage of recording machine, victim's name is called - see later.]
(What do you do with the fingernails or the corn? What do you do with those?)
Jis' drop 'em down in dere an' say, "Ah wish yo' tuh go an' ah may nevah seen any mo'."
[Here I add the person's name previously dropped.]
(You just call this person's name, so they won't be around you any more.)
Entry 6749
Yo' git some corn shucks an' yo' boil 'em an' yo' make a tea. An' don' let 'er drink no watah, no cold watah or othah kinda watah, excep' dat. An' dat'll drive it out an' dry it up [measles].
Entry 6830
Red peppah, hot red peppah an' chamber lye an' bathe yo' laig wit it an' that would give yo' ease. Ah have tried that mahself. (If somebody has put something down for you to walk over.) Yes sir, a fortuneteller tole me someone had put sompin down fo' me to walk ovah. [Here, either while'recording ma- chine is stopped or cylinder is changed, I ask for the whole story.] Well, mah laig kep' hurtin' me an' someone come along an' tole me, say, "Miss Carter," say, "ah knows a good man 'cross town. If yo' would go, he would tell yo' sompin tuh relieve yo' of dat pain in yore knee." It nevah would swell but it jis' hurt all de time. So ah went ovah dere an' he tole me someone had hurt me in mah knee. An' he got me some green moss an' tole me tuh boil dat an' bathe in de watah hot. Put some table salt in it. An' aftah dat, den rub it wit some of dis red peppah an' dis saltpetah mixed tuhgethah. Make a salve. Put some lard wit it or some oil or sompin an' make a salve an' rub wit dat, an' hit would relieve me. An' ah did dat an' it relieved me. An' a li'le latah it commence tuh hurtin' ag'in. Well, ah went tuh anothah lady an' she tole me - least she didn't tell me but she fixed de poultice huh- self; Brown Mule chewin' 'bacca an' earth worms whut chew dig up out de ground. An' she stewed it up tuhgethah an' give me dat tuh put some meal wit it, an' make a hot poultice an' put on mah knee. An' dat relieved me.
(That was the end of that?)
Yes sir, an' mah knee got bettah.
Entry 6871
Yo' kin take dat straw off de broom or de foddah, either one - de corn foddah off a corn stalk - an' make a tea outa it. An' dat'll make a woman's pains easiah. Yes, if she's in labor. Or den, if yo' take dis mistletoe, on de tree, if yo' got a cowan' she's in labor feed 'er on dat an' she'll bring de calf wit'out any trouble.
Entry 7401
Mah gran'fathah said, he was in slav'ry yo' see, he said dat when a person done kill a person dey goes an' gits dis person's shoes an' dey take 'um an' put 'em full of foddah an' den dey take some dis heah lye dey use to run an' make soap outa. Ah don't know whethah yo' remembah it or not. (The old-fashioned lye.) Yes sir, used to run it outa ashes. Put hit in dere an' dey turn dat shoe bottom sides upwards dey said, an' in five days evah who did it would come back.
(Do you do one of the shoes that way or both of them?)
Jes' one of 'em. Dat left shoe.
Entry 7723
See, yo' 'sposed tuh go tuh de graveyard twelve a'clock at night, an' yo' git dis dirt, an' when yo' start gittin' dis dirt, yo' supposed tuh say, "Dead spirit, ah didn't come tuh rob yore grave, ah came heah fo' luck In de Name of de Father, of de Son an' of de Holy Ghost." An' if yo' put money tuh dat grave or a corn or either some fresh rice, anything, yo' supposed tuh pay dem An' jes' lak if yo' want chure luck changed, yo' go dere in de nighttime at twelve a'clock an' yo' take de haidbo'd an' throw it tuh de feet an' take de feetbo'd an' throw it tuh de haid. An' yo' git dis graveyard dirt an' yo' sup- posed tuh put sulphur in it - supposed tuh put red peppah an' yo' supposed tuh put sompin yo' kin git at de drugsto', but yo' don' specially have tuh have dat, an' salt in it. An' yo' burn dis dirt three times a day. If it's wet yo' put it in de sun an' let it git dry, an' when yo' make yore fiah [fire] it gonna smell funny when it be burnin'. Yo' shet up in a room tuh yo'self an' yo' burn dis heah dirt. An' jes' lak if yo' want - if anothah party livin' next do', yo' want 'em out chure house, yo' burn dat dirt on dose people an' tell 'em dat chew want 'em tuh be out. Yo' know, move out de house. An' burn it three times a day. An' jes' lak if yo' runnin' a joint or anything, an' if no one will visit chure joint much, yo' kin burn dat dirt, an' in about ten minutes time yo'll have a crowd at chure house. An' if it's a woman yo' wants tuh see, an' yo' cain't see her, an' yo' burn dat dirt, dogged if she wouldn't be dere in about five minutes' time.
(You make your wishes when you burn that dirt.)
[This was not a leading question. Somewhere while recording machine had stopped this had been mentioned.] Yeah yo' make yore own wishes In de Name of de Fathah, an' de Son an' de Holy Ghost. (What is the stuff that you would get at the drug store if you wanted to use that and add that to it?) It's sompin, but chew specially [don't] have tuh have dat, becuz ah ain't nevah didn't nuse [use] dat. (You don't have to have it. What is it, if you do want to use it?) [Either no answer or I turn off machine too fast.]
Entry 8283
Well, yo' see, yo' kin take dat 'ere [photo] an' [a note of mlne says informant very shaky, a stutterer] an' bury it down in dirt an'...meal buries... eithah meal. Dey eithah buries it in de groun' where dey walk ovah it fo' nine days, an' make any kinda wishes yo' wants fo' it, yo' see. An' den take it out, yo' see, an' nail it up side of de tree at de ninth day an' shoot it, sompin lak dat, wit No.8 shot.
(What is that supposed to do to you?)
Dey say de person will die. (You take this photograph first and you bury it in the ground, face down, you say. And then what do you put on that?) Make any kinda wishes yo' wants tuh.
(You said something about meal. What did you say about meal?)
Even if yo' don't want tuh bury it down in de ground, yo' kin bury it in de meal.
(Oh, if you don't bury it in the ground, you bury it in the meal. Corn meal?)
Yes, sir. An' den yo' leave it fo' nine days. Den yo' see, yo' kin make yere wishes, any kinda wish yo' want. An' de ninth day yo' kin take it up an' shoot it.
Entry 8528
(Now, you are going to tell me something else. Now, all right.) Now, then yo' kin get yo' a coconut. Yo' git yo' nine seeds of punkin [pumpkin]. (Pumpkin seeds, nine of them.) Nine of 'em. (All right.) Yo' get yo' nine chicken corns [kernels of maize, Zea Mays]. (Nine what?) Chicken corns. (Chicken corn, what's that for?) Dat's to put in de coconut. (Well what is chicken corn?) Dat's what de chicken eats. (You mean the same thing as a horse eats, the same kind of corn the horse eats? Chicken corn? Ordinary corn like a roasting ear of corn. All right.) Yo' get that nine pumpkin seeds, nine chicken corn, the man name, but yo' take de water out de coconut. Yo' put de man name nine times an' de woman, if in case yo' wanta break 'em up. Put it in there.
(How do you put the woman's name in there?)
Yo' put de woman name crossways, this way [demonstrates].
(Across his name. All right.)
Across his name. Then yo' make a cross toward this way [a cross is added to the paper]. Then when yo' do that, then in that, then yo' takes this cayenne peppah an' yo' set it right up in de center [of the paper] and yo' bring it to yo'. An' yo' cuss 'em as yo' putting it to yuh. An' yo' roll it on dis side an' yo' put on dis, always rolling it to yo'. An' then yo' cuss it an' yo' stick it in there.
(In this coconut.)
An' then yo' take a stopper an' yo' stop up de two eyes, then yo' take de coconut an' yo' roll it fo' nine days in yore home. Then yo' take it an' yo' goes to de rivah. Takes fifteen cents an' throws in de - de fifteen cents be- hind it [coconut], to pay spirit for the work]. An' just let it go each way or de other, an' let it float anywhere where it's gotta go. An' yo'll have him just agoing from one to de other. He'll lose his mind or else go to de river.
(What do you mean by these two eyes?)
SEE, DE COCONUT GOT TWO EYES WHERE DE WATER DRAINS OUT.
(All right, on account of those two eyes you have two corks in that coconut?)
Yes, sir.
Entry 9166
Yo' kin git some [corn] meal an' some salt, an' mix dat up tuhgethah an' pee on it, an' den dry it fo' yo' go downtown [to meet the judge]. Or ei- thah, let somebody do dat while yo's [you is] downtown [in jail or before the judge]. Dey [the person at home] would put it [the dried urine, corn meal and salt] in de fiah an' let it burn. An' while yo' down dere [at court] yo'd [you would] come out all right.
Entry 10717
Ah'll tell yo', whether it's a woman or man, if she leaves yo' an' yo' wanta git her back, why yo' git chew three grains of cor [maize], an' three strands of her hair, an' if dere any way yo' kin git her track, pick up yo' [your] dirt out of each one of her track - three tracks. An' yo' put dat in yore shoe, umdah yore bottom shoe [insole] whut yo' wear. Lift dat [insole] up an' put it udah dere, an' yo' wear dat. An' she'll come back. See, an' when she come back, an' den, if yo' want her tuh stay dere, yo' go an' git chew a bird nest an' yo' put some sulphur an' salt in dat bird nest an' burn it. Make yo' a little fire an' burn it in de chimley so yo' kin git de scent of it, an' she can't leave yo' no way; can't go an' leave him, de man or woman, which one wanta do it.
(Do you wear that corn in your shoe also?)
Put dat cor an' de hair an' dat sand in yore shoe.
Entry 11126
(Well, what do they go down there [forks of the road] for? What have you heard?) Go to de fo'ks of de road. An' get [take along] corn or somepin like dat. Dey got [a] corn [wart] growin' dere [on the hands]. Pick one of dem dere an' rub corn on it an' rub it up [into air, not down]. An' go to de fo'ks of de road an' make a wish [to be rid of the Warts] throw it [corn] ovah de left shouldah an' go on. Nevah look back. Ah've tried dat, mahself.
(Did it work?)
No.
Entry 11127
Make 'em come back, dey says yo' take meal, corn meal, an' give it to yore personally friend. Yo' know, jes' lak ah have a friend, an' ah voald del liver it to them an' they would give it to then. an' in five days, they'll eicher come back or either go fur- ther, go further away or either come back to 'em home. [This coafusloa I nov try to straighten out.] (In other words, if you wanted to bring back your husband, you would take this meal and give it to some friend of yours, and that friend of yours would have to give it to your husband; and if he accepted that gift of the corn meal, he would come back to you?) Come back to me.
(You only make one gift of corn meal?)
Yessuh.
Entry 6950
(Rub this snail on the corn?)
Yessuh, until that slime gits on there.
(That takes the corn off?)
Yessuh.
Entry 785
During slavery my father told me he knew a man who was a cunjure and his master and mistress trust him with everything, and he was boss over the rest of the slaves as well as being a cunjure. And he could tell many tales and never get caught. His mistress lost her gold ring and asked him to find it for her. And he said, "Missus, if you give me three days off from work, I'll find your ring" which he already had by being tricky. So he laid in bed and slept as much as he want, and got the best food from master's table. On the third day he took the gold ring and a fishhook - at first - to work the trick. So he changed off and got a grain of corn and corn meal. And he put the gold ring inside of the meal and the grain of corn and give it to a certain duck, which he had marked that he may know from the rest. And he give the duck that corn meal, grain of corn, all rolled up together, and went to his master's room and said, "Get your madam, for I'm going to find your ring right here this day. Come and go with me to the chicken yard." He told him to kill a duck which he knew did not have the ring, neither the second duck, but the third one which he killed had the ring inside. So he said, "Master, what are you going to give me for this job?" He said, "Anything you ask." He said, "One month off, boss, to court the gals." When he had killed the third duck and opened it, he found the ring. And then he got thirty days off and the ducks which he had killed. So his master after this went coon [racoon] hunting one night and caught a coon. And the other men that went with him got a bet of five-hundred dollars that his nigger couldn't tell what his master had in the bag. So he called his slave John out of bed that night that he might win the five-hundred dollars. So John got up and come indoors with a dozen other men that was in the coon hunt and also had a part in the bet that John could not tell what was in the bag. So his master said, "John, tell these men what is in the bag: So John scratched his head and lit his pipe, knowing not what was in the bag and that his master had caught him this time. So he said, "Well, master, you have got the ole coon at last." [Near Fredericksburg, Va., (71), by hand; supposed to have happened in King George Co., Va.; a folk story.]
Entry 2928
Go to the railroad track for spikes. (For what?) For spikes.
(What do you mean? Those big iron spikes that hold the rails down?)
Yes.
(What do they do with those?)
They take one of those spikes - like if you go out on the railroad track and say - you ain't got no - you haven't had no prosperity in your crop probably.
(Your what?)
Your crops and all that - like you make corn.
(Oh, your crop - the things you grow.)
The things you grow. You go to the railroad track and get a big spike and bring this spike back and burn you a candle over that spike, and when that, re- gardless of what length of time - you take that candle when that candle goes out, burns out there - you take that spike that was burning under that candle and was laying in your house, and bury that spike under your steps and let it stay under your steps for nine days. Bury it with the head up and the straight [side] down. Take it as near as you can to the center of your field and dig a deep, deep hole and bury it, after you take it up after the nine days under your steps where you walked over it. Take it in the center of your field, as near as you can and bury it in your field, deep, deep so you won't plow it or cultivation won't bring it up. And let it stay in the middle of your field, and you'll have better crops, bigger corn, better cotton - higher cotton and all that. (You say you burn this candle and say a novena?) [Novena shows machine had been stopped.] Yeah.
(I see. What sort of a candle do you burn for that?)
A white candle.
(Why white?)
A white candle is best to use unless you using something against some person. A white candle is the best always. [This is one of my few farming rites. As a matter of fact I never asked about them, considering them general folklore.]
Entry 3109
Well, mah fathah back in 1904 - dat's been a long time ago, yo' know, 1904. Fo' me d'rectly ah have nevah had a thing like dat workin' fo' me, but mah fathah hired a man like dat when ah was a boy - ah's 48 yeahs old now. An in dose days, along 1904, mah fathah was - we had bought a track [tract] of land but it wasn't zactly in cultivation, so he had to rent some land from a nearby neighbor. An' so de man dat he rent de land from didn't have sufficient fence around de land. Ah goin' tell yo' about dis hoodoo business. So dis man didn't have sufficient fence aroun' de lan' fo' tuh keep de stock outa de property, yo' know, which he had corn crop in dere. See, de cows an' all went in an' destroyed de crop. Well, after de crop was destroyed den he wanted mah fathah still tuh pay rent for de land, see. So he wanted him tuh pay rent on de land. Well, ah didn't know - ah was at dat time 'bout thirteen or fo'teen yeahs ole - ah didn't know anything, such a thing as a hoodoo man until den. Well, all right, mah fathah didn't pay it an so he offered tuh put him in lawsuit 'bout de land - 'bout de crop, paying de rent on de land. But dey couldn't win because dey wasn't no law on de land, on de stock eatin' up a man crop an' make him pay rent - in dem days it wasn't, see. Well, all right, den de ole man - we had our fence couple up to him like dis, see. An' dis ole man, then he divided de fence away from our fathah's, from mah fathah's crop and dat jes' put 'im in de same - he have [to] run de fence line in dere. In de meantime befo' all dis harmness [harm] was ovah, to keep de stock from eatin' up whut crops he had on his new land - we had jes' recently bought 80 acres of land, an' den ah found out dat mah fathah was dealin' with a hoodoo man. Ah was comin' from in de direction dis farm was an' ah met a man comin' crost over de hill wit a stick in his hand - see, a little stick in his hand. Had on a vest - it long about - an' ah guess it was a mocassin flowah on it. It was Octobah - guess it was - an' he asked me whah did dis man live. So ah tole 'im whar he lived. Well, ah didn't know who de man was.
(He asked where your father lived?)
No sir, he had been to mah fathah's house an' passin' on dere an' asked me whah did dis man live. An' so ah wasn't yery fur from whar he lived at an' ah tole 'im 'bout whar he lived. Dis ole man [not the hoodoo, but landlord] had a gray horse - but ah'm 'head of de story. So ah went on back home and ah tell 'em ah met a ole man on de hill that asked me whar mah fathah [father's landlord] lived, an' mah mothah tole me den, she said, "Well, dat's de ole man ole man [somebody], '' she say, "he's been workin' fo' yo' daddy a long time." She say, "He's gone tuh see 'bout all dis foolish- ness. He's been workin' fo' yore fathah fo' years - he got him hired by de yeah." An' he went up dere an' - ah must tell yo de truth - in 'bout three months from dat, dat ole man lost de horse an' dey leave. Dey jes' moved away from de place. An' his son move in on dis place. Den de son stayed awhile an he had to move away, an' no one evah lives on dat place. It absolutely was know it was done through Doctor Wilson, a hoodoo man. Well, any trouble or disaster mah fathah got in, he come tuh his rescue.
Entry 4315
Grand Duke[?] or Green Pastures[?] or [?].
(Grand?)
[Informant could not name the oil.]
Grand - Green Grand - or - yeah, yuh take dat an' yuh put it in a bottle. Yuh set three bottles, jis' like yuh git one a dem cake flavor bottles. Yuh have tuh take three of dem. Yuh ketches 'er urine, see. Yuh ketches some of de filth, some of de filth what - jis' like if she goes in de night. de night. Well yuh take a spoon an' take some of de filth an' put it in one bottle, den yuh put some of de urinate in anothah bottle, den yuh takes 'er name. But yuh go an' git chew some of dis parchment papah which ain't no papah, but it's lambskin, but it's very thin. Yo' take dat lamb's skin, well, yo' pays 32c a foot fo' it [a good profit for hoodoo drug stores and mail- order houses during the Great Depression from a cheap quality of parchment paper]. Well, yuh cut yuh a piece jis' de length of 'er name, an' yuh take it aftah yuh've taken an' put dat urinate in one bottle an' de othah stuff, dat filth, in anothah bottle. An' yuh take some corn an' yuh takes 'er name an' yuh write it.
(You take some what?)
Yuh takes 'er name an' write it on dis parchment paper.
(You said corn?)
Yes.
(What kind of corn?)
Jis' common or'nary corn, jis' like if it be fo' chicken'feedin'.
(Oh, an ear of corn.)
Yeah, a roastin' ear of corn.
(I see. All right.)
Den yuh take dat an' yuh write dat name three times an' put it in each one of dose bottles.
(On a piece of paper you do that?)
Yes, parchment papah which it would be dis lamb's skin, see. Den yuh take it an' put it right at de cornah [center later] of de mattress.
(Now, wait a minute, what did you do with that corn?)
Yuh put it in dat urinate.
(Oh, all right.)
Yuh mix it in each one of de bottles, de urinate an' dat filth, an' den yuh put 'er name down in dere wit it, see. Den yuh take dat bottle an' yuh fix a little package, jis' like a little small package, two down an' one on top, any way yuh could git it in dat mattress, but put it where she won't nevah turn it ovah. An' yuh an' her would git along jis' like two children in de house dere.
(Make a package of those two bottles?)
Two bottles. Yuh see, yuh have two down an' one up on top of dem.
(Oh, you use three of those bottles?)
Yes, two of dem bottles.
(Two down and the third one on top?)
On top.
(All lying flat?)
Lay 'em down anywhere in de centah [formerly corner] of de mattress, an' yuh an' 'er will git along like two children in de house.
(What do you put that corn in there for?)
Well, dat's tuh strengthen it.
(What? Oh! that's to strengthen it.)
Yes, her urinate - long as de urinate dere, well, she nevah would leave from around dere. She will always be dere, be kind. But den, don't nevah stop up neither one of de bottles tight, yuh undahstan', becuz if yuh'd stop up debottle tight, dat would stop 'er urine from comin' down, see. Jis' take somepin like a papah stoppah, yuh know, jis' to ketch a little air, yuh know, jis' - an' yuh put it down, screw it down, she couldn't nevah go nowhere. Yuh an' 'er jis' at peace, jis' like two children.